Category: Kansas City Missouri

The St. Patrick’s Day parade is back after a two-year break – and it will have participation from people from Kansas City, Kansas.

The annual event will begin at 11 a.m. on Thursday, March 17, in midtown and the Westport area of Kansas City, Missouri. The parade route stretches from Linwood and Broadway, and continues along Broadway to 43rd Street.

The parade’s grand marshal, Pete McCluskey Jr., grew up in Kansas City, Kansas. He and his family were very involved with volunteering with the parade through the years; his father was the grand marshal of the parade in 1994.

Parade spokeswoman Erin Gabert said she’s sure McCluskey will be glad to be grand marshal after two years of waiting. The parade was canceled for two years because of the risk of COVID-19 and crowds, and it also had a severe weather threat last year.

“It’s really exciting,” Gabert said about the return of the parade this year. “Everybody’s really happy, excited to get to be back and continue this great KC tradition.”

Also in the parade from Kansas City, Kansas, are the KCK Police Pipes and Band, Gabert said. The band is expected to be prominently featured in the parade. It was the first place band winner in 2019.

Gabert said more than 100 entries are in this year’s St. Patrick’s Day parade, including many floats from families and organizations, drill teams, Irish dance groups and all sorts of groups.

Honored at the parade this year will be the Ed and Barbara Scanlon family, the Cullinan Family Spirit Award winners; and the late Don Post, the Mike Murphy Honorary Irishman of the Year.

As an outdoor event, not a ticketed, gated event, it’s difficult to control the crowd for health and safety reasons, but the parade organizers are encouraging anyone who may be sick or have symptoms, or who are immunocompromised, to stay home and watch the parade on television or online, Gabert said.

The parade will be broadcast from noon to 2 p.m. on Fox 4 KC, and also will be shown on the Fox 4 KC website.

Gabert said the parade route is long enough and includes a lot of space where people can spread out. They’re asking people to be smart about what they do, she added.

The St. Patrick’s Day parade has been in the midtown area of Kansas City, Missouri, since 2009. The former route was in the middle of downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and back then, areas where people could watch the parade were limited, with not much space available, she said.

There will be no parking along the parade route from 5 a.m. March 17 through the end of the parade. The parade route will close starting at 8 a.m. March 17.

The parade traditionally is a large tourist event for the Kansas City area.

“With this on Thursday, and close to the weekend, and great weather, we expect to get some people from the regional area,” Gabert said. “Fortunately, the rain is not in the forecast ’til the late afternoon or evening.”

The event will be held rain or shine, according to the parade’s website. The theme of this year’s parade is “Doing an Irish Dance.” Co-chairs of the St. Patrick Day parade this year are Adam Cannon and Michelle Kilker.

A Harvesters Go for the Green food drive is being held in conjunction with the parade this year, and donations can be made at https://www.kcirishparade.com/harvesters/.

The parade also will continue the tradition of involving Children’s Mercy Hospital children and families. The usual Children’s Mercy group of dancers will not be able to attend the parade this year, but the parade committee will take craft activities and videos to the children and families this year. Kids at Children’s Mercy are creating shamrock decorations that will adorn the Children’s Mercy Brigade fire truck in the parade this year.

For more information about the parade, visit www.kcirishparade.com.